In the July 2015 Big City Mayors’ Caucus hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, mayors from 21 of Canada’s largest cities met to discuss the role that Canadian municipalities must play in climate action coming out of the upcoming COP21 UN Climate Conference in Paris.

The mayors agreed that municipalities across the country need to seize a leadership role and commit to binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson noted, “big cities have taken a leadership role by implementing practical environmental initiatives. . . .We need other governments around the world to make similar commitments towards increasing energy efficiency, reducing reliance on non-renewable energy, and thereby reducing our greenhouse gas footprint.” Iveson’s statement calls for change in how cities operate and how people live, however, this begs the question,

What kind of change is necessary?

On October 30th, 10:00am-12:00pm PST or 1:00pm-3:00pm EST, a diverse group of scholars from the Sustainable Canada Dialogues will discuss what, how wide and how deep do we need to go to successfully mitigate and adapt to climate change. The panelists for this upcoming conversation include:

We believe today more than ever we need bold leadership. Our guess is that the real leadership needs to come from Canadians from communities everywhere. Dig in, take responsibility, and demand action from your elected officials.
(adapted from Synder)